'Til Death Do Us Part (70 page)

“
Mom
,
it hurts so bad,
”
Travis said
,
reaching out with his arm from the undamaged side.

The bullet had caught him underneath the
shoulder;
it was a flesh wound that had already stopped bleeding for the most part.

“
Oh
,
Travi
s,
”
Tracy sobbed
,
grabbing her son.

Tony pressed
the bottle up against his head.
He
hated the fiery liquid
,
but he thought it might be the only thing that would quell the panic of nearly seeing his grandson cut down. More shots had been going on as the rest of the clan gathered in and around the kitchen. Slowly but steadily
,
the comp
ound was going dark as the spot
lights were taken out.

Tony took one more pull.
“
Ron,
”
he said as he stood,
“
t
hey
’
re getting ready for some sort of offensive
, I can feel it
,
we’re
going to need a couple of more people out on duty. Everyone needs to make sure they stay below the lip of the railing. Shut off unessential lights in the house and get Travis down to the safe room at least until he gets patched up.
”
He was trying
his best to walk the fine line between allaying Tracy
’
s fears and making sure the boy didn
’
t feel like he was being left out.

Mrs. Deneaux was already on the deck sitting far enough back that the gunmen didn
’
t have an angle on her.
“
How is the boy?
”
s
he asked Tony between cigarette puffs.

“
He
’
ll be fine, caught him under his shoulder.
”

“
Fortunate. I don
’
t believe Tracy could take another loss, she
’
s like that candy that
’
s all hard on the outside and soft on the inside.
”

“
Better than hard
and bitter all the way through,
”
BT said as he was almost crawling to get his bulk through the doorway unseen.

“
Debatable,
”
Mrs. Deneaux said as she took humor from BT trying to make himself appear small.
“
You look like a bear trying to fit through a doggie door.
Wake me before dawn, will you, Tony?”
She asked before putting her cigarette out and closing her eyes.

“
Why before dawn?
”
BT asked Tony as they settle
d
in on the other side of the house.

“
Any force that has wanted to catch its opponent at their least alert a
lways attacks right before dawn,
”
Tony told him, sitting with his back against the plating.

“
And the old bat knew that?
”
BT asked sitting next to him.

“
She
’
s probably employed th
e tactic numerous times herself,
”
Tony said smiling.

“
Man I se
e so much of Mike in all of you,
”
BT said sadly.
“
It
’
s like he
’
s not really gone.
”

“
If only that were the case,
”
Tony said.

M
ike Journal Entry 14

It was after three in the morning when we finally pulled into Searsport.

“
Now what?
”
Azile asked.

“
I
’
d rather just ditch the dam
n
truck
,
but we
’
re still
ten miles out.
However,
if
we get too close
,
they
’
ll hear u
s coming and if we stop then and don
’
t show up they
’
ll get suspicious. How many of those driver
’
s would recognize you?
”
I asked
,
the beginning of an idea forming
in my head.

“
Kong, Horatio
,
and maybe
four
or five
others.
Why?
”

“
I think we play the odds.
”

“
Whose odds? Vegas odds? Because those are never good.
”

“
So you have the potential of nine people knowing you including Tomas and Eliza, I only have two. When I tell you to pull over, do it
,
then I
’
ll drive.
”

Azile
’
s expression was dubious at best.

“
It
’
ll only be for a little way
,
”
I assured her.

“
Kong will recognize you. I mean he
’
ll recognize that you don
’
t belong, I mean,
”
Azile explained.

“
That will have to be a problem we deal with later. First things first, there
’
s a dry cleaner at the center of town, pull over when I tell you.
”

Between how ill-fitting and smelly my clothes were
,
Azile didn
’
t have a comment about my wanting to change.

The sound of the idling truck barely masked the plate glass shattering as I threw an ashtray stand through it. It had been months since police had come to any crime scene and still
I
looked around guiltily, old habits die hard.

“
Hurry up!
”
Azile said through the window.
“
And no suits.
”

“
What are the odds they
’
ll have jeans here?
”
I asked her.

“
At a
dry cleaners? Just hurry,
”
s
he reiterated.

I stepped into the blackness of the store, the echoing engine vibrations were slightly disorienting. The long
‘
ess
’
of plastic wrapped clothes was directly in front of me as were every conceivable nightmare I could think of. I was convinced a horde of zombies laid in wait. I quickly moved behind the counter and scooped up a handful of clothes off the rack. I
brushed
anything that looked remotely like business wear off to the floor. I wasn
’
t left with much to choose from.

“Who dry cleans a skull cap?” I asked the non-existent attendant. Someone was still in my corner as I grabbed the small bag off the line. It covered my Eliza blocker perfectly and gave me sort of a World War 2
James Dean look. Hey it’s my mind I can live in any fantasy I want
and this way I could get rid of the dreaded Yankees cap
.

There was a long sleeved shirt that didn
’
t look too bad
;
it had the name of a bar on it, Rollie
’
s or something close to that. It was a little snug when I put it on
,
but nothing like my previous duds
,
and I knew this was clean. Now I needed some pants that didn
’
t look like I shopped in the boys
’
department. This was
proving a little more difficult.
First
off
,
most of the clothes were women
’
s, I thought I should still be alright, Maine is known for its stout women. They were of the power suit variety though and then I came across not what I wanted but what I could use.

“
They still make Chino
’
s?
”
I asked holding the pants up to the near non-existent light. It was difficult to tell, but they looked brown from where I was standing. I turned so that I wasn
’
t facing Azile and quickly stripped out of the old and into the new.

I ran back to the truck
much more comfortable than when I had departed.
The
brightness of the dome light took some time to adjust as I got back in my seat.

“
Well
you look good,
”
Azile laughed.

“
My pants are purple,
”
I said horrified.

Azile was laughing, but she didn
’
t really let loose until she had me show her the back of my shirt.

“
What?
”

“
It says you won a wet t-shirt contest.
”

“
Are you kidding me?
”
I pulled the shirt over my head, and dammit if she wasn
’
t right. For reason
s
known only to me
,
I looked at the care tag,
‘
dry clean only
’
.
“
Why the fuck would they make a wet t-shirt, shirt, dry clean only?
”

“
You want to get different clothes?
”
s
he asked.

I did and I didn
’
t. Nothing happened and I didn
’
t hear anything in there
,
but that dry cleaners just didn
’
t feel right
.
Plus,
being this close to my family
,
I just wanted to get there.
“
Let
’
s go,
”
I told Azile, taking one last look back.

“
Last chance,
”
s
he told me.

I sat steadfast. When we took the final road before my father
’
s dirt road drive I had Azile pull over.

“
It
’
s not far is it?
”
s
he asked as I ground the gears into drive, forcing rather than allowing. The truck
was
bucking like a bull
with his balls cinched tight—a
lthough
,
if my balls were cinched I
’
d probably just be crying in a corner.

“
You should hide,
”
I told her as I came up over a small rise. Trucks were lined up on both sides of the roadway, zombies were everywhere. Occasionally I would see a human
,
but for the most part
,
they were staying out of the way of the zombies. I eased the truck into the back of the last truck in the line. And by
‘
easing
’
I mean
‘
tapped
’
the bumper and by
‘
tapped
’
the bumper I mean did damage that would have entailed exchanging insurance papers in an earlier version of the world.
The
noise
should not have gone unnoticed
,
but the sound of gunfire was prevalent. It didn
’
t stop the owner of the truck from coming out of his cab to investigate.